


How you do Romance

by weepingwillow



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 08:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10917663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weepingwillow/pseuds/weepingwillow
Summary: “This way, Arthur,” Merlin murmured, “Come on.”





	How you do Romance

“This way, Arthur,” Merlin murmured, “Come on.”

 

He had his eyes screwed up shut, sitting cross-legged on a cushion in his London loft. Light streamed through narrow, iron-barred windows, casting long streams of gold across the wooden floorboards. The light picked up the shape of scattered rose petals, each one sending a long shadow across the floor like a comet trail. They were white, but the evening light threw a gilded stain over them. Merlin was very pleased with himself for having come up with the white petals. The colour of them against the uneven wooden floorboards was an instagram post in itself.

 

The petals were scattered the most intensely around the centre of the room, where Merlin sat. He had built himself a nest, of sorts, made up entirely of different sized red cushions. They made up a ring, inside which was a space empty but for a silver tray. Merlin faced the door, his kitchen blocked off at the back of the room by the furniture that ordinarily took up his open plan living space, all stacked together. To one side of the room, across from the windows, the space for his bedroom stepped up like a pedestal. Merlin loved this place. He loved the rough bricks, the mess still strewn over his bed from his attempts to decide what to wear. He loved that  _ open plan _ was, really, just an excuse for the place to be tiny and cold. He loved the almost view of the London Eye from the too-thin windows. He loved that it used to be owned by Gaius, before he moved and left it to Merlin.

 

The love that Merlin has for this place keeps it firmly in his mind, even with his eyes closed. It grounds him, there, one hand on his knee like a meditation, the other open-palmed, a blue ball of slowly twisting light in his hand. It keeps him steady as he guides the ball’s twin through busy London streets.

 

And behind it comes Arthur.

 

Arthur, who Merlin maybe loved most of all things. Arthur, in shirt sleeves and a tie, who knew immediately knew when surprised in his office by a ball of glowing light that Merlin was behind it. Arthur, who Merlin has known since he briefly interned with him three years ago and who he hated on sight; who no one could have guessed that he would eventually date.

 

Merlin watched him fight his way through the crowd, following the ball of light. A few children looked up and pointed excitedly, but mostly its appearance was met with absolute indifference - there was so much magic on the streets of London that it blended in with the street performers, the magical police, the charm shops. Merlin himself had eyes for none of the bustle - only for Arthur. He had the progress of the ball of light pause as Arthur got stuck hunting for his Oyster card at the tube station’s ticket barriers, speed up when the cobbled street opened up in front of him and he could run, hair a mess in the wind, towards Merlin’s building.

 

As he jogged towards the old red brick warehouse, confusion grew on Arthur’s face, didn’t stop. The light guided him on, through the elevator and down the corridor, where Merlin’s door opened for him.

 

Merlin’s eyes opened, the ball disappeared. Merlin looked up at Arthur and couldn’t help but smile at the golden wonder of Arthur, dimming everything in the room by contrast. Arthur stepped into the loft and looked around himself curiously.

 

“So this is where you live,” he said, trying for an attractive drawl but still clearly too out of breath. Merlin grinned.

 

“Now this is how you do romance, Arthur.” He gestured to the pillows. “Why don’t you come and sit down?”

 

Arthur closed the door behind him and stepped towards Merlin, taking in the petals, the cushions, the fading light.

 

“This is all very… lovely.”

 

“Sit down, Arthur,” Merlin said, laughing. Hesitantly, Arthur did as he was told. He frowned down at the silver platter.

 

“What is this for?” he asked. Merlin waved a hand over it with apparent ease, and two glasses of red wine appeared. First in the reflection and then, as Merlin drew his hand away, in reality, drawn up from the surface of the platter. Arthur’s eyes widened in surprise at the magic, and it sent warm arrows through Merlin’s heart. Though the rest of the world was desensitised to magic, Merlin loved the childlike wonder Arthur still had for it.

 

“Can I take it?” Arthur asked.

 

“If you like red wine,” Merlin told him. Arthur evidently did - he reached out to take one glass and tried a sip, smiling at the rich taste. The wine dyed his lower lip a darker red; Merlin couldn’t take his eyes away.

 

Arthur, however, still seemed distracted.

 

“When you sent the thing,” Arthur said, circling his finger in the air to denote the orb, “I thought you were in trouble. That you needed me.”

 

“I did need you,” Merlin said with a smile, “And I thought that if I didn’t send something special for you, you might have to postpone our date again.” His smile widened at the guilt in Arthur’s face. “It’s alright, you’re busy and you’re doing good work, but was I right?”

 

Arthur nodded.

 

“Well,” Merlin continued, “You can take this evening as a well-earned break.” He took the second glass and raised it between them. “To a very enjoyable night.”

 

Arthur blushed, raised his glass, and clinked it against Merlin’s.

 

“And yet more to come.”


End file.
